the Philosophy of Language, by Graham

Bertrand Russell advocated his new theory of descriptions for the first time in ‘On Denoting ’ in the October 1905 issue of Mind. The theory has thus recently celebrated its hundred and seventh anni-versary, but the ideas expressed in ‘On Denoting ’ and, indeed, the paper itself, continue to attract philosophers ’ attention. The reception of the theory of descriptions has a long history. When Russell sent the paper to Mind, G. F. Stout, the then editor of the journal, begged him to reconsider its publication. Russell, however, refused. G. E. Moore is reported to have admitted that he could not understand the theory until it was given a clearer for-mulation in Principia, a claim that we have good reasons to doubt. In the decades following its publication, many philosophers looked upon the theory for inspiration in philosophical methodol-ogy. Acknowledging Russell’s distinction between the real and apparent logical form of a proposition, they drew from the theor